Wendell Hall
| Wendell Woods Hall | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Wendell Woods Hall |
| Also known as | Pineapple Picador |
| Born | August 23, 1896 St. George, Kansas, United States |
| Died | April 2, 1969 Alabama, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, country, Hawaiian |
| Instruments | Ukulele |
| Years active | 1920s-1950s |
Wendell Woods Hall (August 23, 1896, St. George, Kansas – April 2, 1969, Fairhope, Alabama) was an American country singer, vaudeville artist, songwriter, pioneer radio performer, Victor recording artist and ukulele player.
Hall was known as the Red-haired Music Maker and the Pineapple Picador in his recording heyday of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1923, he released the song "It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'," which sold over two million copies in the United States. It was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. He wrote "Underneath the Mellow Moon" and "Carolina Rose". Hall also wrote songs with Carson Robison and Art Gillham.
Hall began his career in 1922 Chicago as a song plugger for Forster Music. He traveled around the country and stopped in towns to play in music stores, theaters, and radio. In vaudeville he began singing and playing the xylophone. He found the ukulele to be more portable and quickly became an expert with that instrument. In January, 1924 he signed with the National Carbon Company to host the Eveready Hour a pioneer commercially sponsored variety program on WEAF in New York. On November 4, 1924 the program was on a pre-network 18 station "hook-up" to broadcast election returns with entertainers Will Rogers, Carson Robison, Art Gillham, and the Waldorf Astoria Orchestra. Eveready even painted their batteries with a red top to cash in on Hall's popularity. In 1929 Wendell Hall hosted the Majestic Music Hour and a few years later Gillette's Community Sing. He made a few musical short films. After his radio days were over Wendell Hall wrote commercials for radio.
He did some collaborations with Carson Robison, recording versions of Stephen Foster tunes such as "Camptown Races" and "Oh! Susanna." He made many recordings on record labels of the time: Victor, Gennett, QRS, Brunswick.
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